3rd Times a Charm! Mar. 8-14..lots of pics

[jenseib]

Hi all! I'm new to these boards. I am friends with Mickeystoontown on another board. I thought I would come over and check this board out too.
I am also going to post my trip report from our March trip. I love reliving it, so each time I post it somewhere it brings back the memories!
I wrote it in word starting after the trip, and before I had recieved my photopass, so as I wrote it, I added my pictures in when I got them. I am going to cpy it the same way here. It's too hard to sort out where each photopass picture is to go.
I hope you enjoy it!
Feel free to ask me any questions about anything. I love to help out. And I hope this helps some people who are deciding whether or not to do some of the things we did.

[jenseib]

Hello everyone! We just got back from a 6 night trip to WDW, celebrating my 40th birthday. The trip was March 8-14, but my birthday was actually Feb 14.

The cast was
Me~ Jen
DH~ Skip
DD~ Claire, who is 4.



We have gone to WDW in March for the past couple of years (2007, 2008, and now 2009) and really enjoy it and the weather is usually pretty decent, and crowds aren’t too bad.

I took A LOT of pictures this trip, and will post a lot of them. It may start out slow, but once I get going, there will be a ton. And once I get my photopass CD, I’ll post those too. (I had over 200 of those before I even added borders!)

The basics…
DH is a dairy farmer. I’m currently a stay at home mom. I have two older children, but they really don’t do Disney any more.
Claire is DH’s only child and she is much younger than the other two, so we both tend to treat her like the princess she is. LOL! Claire also loves to dress up…so we brought a lot of costumes, and she prefers dresses to shorts, so I also brought some sundresses for her too. She’s a very girly girl, who likes to wear a dress out to the barn to help dad!

I also want to add that we have always started our trip on a Sunday, and the last 2 trips on Thursday Claire has gotten sick. We figure the reasoning may be over stimulation. (and last year she licked a pole on the bus too). So the goal was to try to take it a bit slower and let her get her sleep. (and no pole licking)

[jenseib]

OK, I see I already have a problem with posting pics? Is this becuase I am new, or is there something different you need to do on Intercot?

[jenseib]

OK, got it figured out. They turn into links here.

[jenseib]

March 8th
The big day!!!!

My basic plans were to fly to Sandford, pick up rental car,
check in at Pop Century,
drop off bags in room,
stop off in gift shop to get an autograph book,
head off to MK right away,
watch spectro magic,
eat at CRT at 9:35,
and get in what rides we could and stay as late as we could handle. (the park had EMH closing at 1.

Here’s how our day went.

I think I got up around 6:30. I got showered and ready. I packed the last minute stuff into the luggage and then loaded the car up. DH had gotten up to do some last minute work, and make sure the farm would be running smoothly while we were gone.
I think I woke Claire up a little before 9.
She was so excited. I got her dressed and showed her that a little note and present had been left on the counter for her. It was from Nemo.



She wasn’t to open the gift till the airport, so we packed it in her carryon. She kept asking how Nemo got to our house. Did he swim here? And how did he open the door?
It was so cute.
My dad arrived a little after 9 and was prepared to load the car, but I told him it was done. DH came in to shower, and I told him I was going to go put gas in the car to be sure we had no problems, since it was less than a quarter tank.
(we have some gas pumps on the farm)
It was pouring so I put on a hooded coat and drove out to the pump and filled it. Of course there is a big puddle in front of the pump as well..
We then piled into the car, and I was told to drive. Toledo airport is only about 10 minutes from our house.
My dad and Skip kept cutting up my driving, I was going too fast, then too slow, waiting to long, etc. I was getting ticked off. I swear sometimes it’s so scary how much my DH is like my dad. What did I do!!!!
I also reminded DH that this trip is supposed to be celebrating my 40th birthday, and he’s supposed to be nice to me. (he totally forgot that part, of course)

We got to the airport about 9:45 and took our luggage in, and dad drove off in the car to take it back home.
The line for Allegiant was very long. So we waited our turn. Very hard for an excited 4 your old, but she did fine.

We headed through security and Claire’s bag had to be ran through several times. They pulled out her leapster and her gift, and wanted to know what was in it. Luckily she wasn’t paying attention when I told them it was a game for her leapster.

We headed upstairs and got a seat. DH laid down immediately.



Claire and I went and got a cinnamon bun and she chose a chocolate muffin. We got a couple of drinks to take on board with us too. We sat down and I ate the cinnamon bun and Claire didn’t want any, and she gave DH the chocolate muffin. LOL!
She then opened her gift from Nemo, which was a Nemo game for her leapster. So that kept her busy for awhile.

[faline]

Looks like you're ready to start a wonderful Disney trip!

[jenseib]

We got called to board at 11:15. Of course at that very minute DH decides to go to the bathroom. I kept telling him we would board shortly after 11, as my parents took this same exact flight a month ago. So Claire and I headed up to board and then waited a minute for DH, but they still allowed us to do the pre-board with a child, even though they had started calling others too.

We took off on time. The flight was uneventful. It was a bit bumpy the whole way, but not bad. I read a little and played with Claire some, and we ate snacks that I packed.

We landed about 10 minutes early and got right off.
We decided I would get luggage, while they went to get the rental car. Our luggage came through fast and I had it right away and headed off to the rental counter only to find them still in line.




DH’s sister works for Hertz, so we got our car about half price of what it would normally be. I had told her I would like a van, but she booked some kind of Mazda. She said she would email them and tell them to upgrade it. Well our upgrade was a Malibu.

We walked outside and the weather was awesome! 83 degrees! The first thing Claire said was "I like Florida"

She asked me if there was a pool at the hotel (she must not have remembered, but we have stayed there the last 2 years as well.) I said yes, and she said she would need to swim right away to "cool off" before we did anything. LOL! What a sweetie!

DH never paid attention to where the car was parked, so we had to wonder a bit to find it. He went in the total opposite direction, and I kept saying I see a Hertz sign over there. But would he listen… NO!
We finally asked someone where Hertz was and sure enough I was right. LOL!
We loaded up the car and Claire started to panic. “Where’s our car?” “It’s at home, remember Pappa took it back home”, “we can’t use this, I want our car”…LOL! Finally she accepted this car and got in. When I loaded the trunk, I found all this plastic junk that look like it fell off the car or some other car. I put it in the back seat because it was oddly shaped and would allow our luggage to all fit back there. I was a little mad that they left this JUNK in the car. We needed all available space with several suitcases, carryon and a stroller.
Finally we were off to Pop. The Hertz lady gave DH different directions to Disney. I had Mapquested it, and we decide to go with Mapquest because it told us how to get to Pop directly.
We had no traffic (several tolls) and we got there in under an hour.

Our official trip is about to begin!

[BluewaterBrad]

Have fun!!

[faline]

Glad you've arrived and are ready to begin your trip!

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Sounds like a great start to your trip!

[tinklover]

Sounds like you had a great start, can;t wait to read the rest.

[jenseib]

Thanks. We had lots of fun. We had ups and downs, but still enjoyed the trip and I miss being there everyday!

[jenseib]

We arrived at pop Century and parked the car. DH had to make a mad dash to the bathroom, so Claire and I took our time walking up to the lobby.





The line was long. We got into it and waited our turn. It did move pretty fast. For those doing online check in prior to going, there was no separate check in spot that I noticed, but did see a sign for it that was pushed to the side, so maybe once it becomes more popular they will separate the lines. (We didn’t do online check in)







DH joined us in line and we checked in. I had faxed our room request (and had it on our reservation as well), on Wednesday. We got the exact location I had requested. YAY! I had asked for first floor, poolside, in the 60’s section. We were right next to Mowgli, in room 1572. Basically 3 doors down from where we were last year.

I did have to remind her (the CM) that we got the $200 gift card. She said it wasn’t noted, but she would get one. (I did have my paperwork that showed we got one, but she never asked to see it)

We got our KTTW’s and the gift card and off Claire and I went to the room. DH went to pull the car up close to unload the luggage. We dropped off our bags in the room ,and Claire and I met DH and got the rest of the stuff. He went back and re-parked the car.
I think this is the ONLY picture I took of our room. I wanted to take a bunch, but I guess I was too busy and excited.



Here’s our room. It’s the one under the sixties sign with the magnets on the door.





Last year our room was 2 doors to the right of Baloo.

[jenseib]

Claire could hardly wait to get in the pool.

I got her swimsuit out and out we went the few steps from our room to the pool. We got a life jacket and in she went. She was soooooooo excited!





Some shots around the pool.

[jenseib]

I think we checked in around 4. I remember looking at my watch and thinking “Oh, Gosh this is prime check in time.”

We were a bit hungry and our ADR wasn’t until 9:35 PM. Skip went off and got some nuggets and fries while I stayed with Claire at the pool.

After he got back, I said I was going to get something too. I stopped and took a few pictures from the smoking section.





And then I ran into the gift shop to get an autograph book. Imagine my surprise when I saw all toys were 35 % off and plush was 25% off. Oh goodie!

Last year we had bought Claire the train set (which I think was about $50 or $60) and had it shipped home (which I think was another $15)

There was a really awesome castle that Claire liked as well, and I was debating on getting it this year. I think it ran about $70, plus another $15 to ship it home. I had been thinking of possibly buying it this year. I actually found a thread on it a few weeks ago on a budget board and everyone who got it, LOVED it. I just didn’t know if I was willing to spend $85 on it. I figured I would wait towards the end of the trip and see how much stuff we had bought and if I had extra money for it.
I noticed none of the castles were out at Pop though.

I picked up the autograph book and asked the CM if this sale was only at Pop or world wide. He thought it was just for Pop, for the whole month of March. (I later found out it was world wide). I asked if they had any more castles and he said yes, they had a bunch in the back and would be bring them out over night. So I pretty much decided I would most likely get one since they were on sale. I would just wait till they were out. I was in no hurry. I still had several days to get it.
I then went into the food court and decided I would get a nice and healthy HOT FUDGE SUNDAE!! MMM!
I also picked up some refillable mugs for DH and I. I had brought last years along as well, mostly for DD. She wouldn’t really be getting anything out of the fountains, but I wanted a cup for her milk or juice, so she wouldn't spill all over.
Here are the cups. I actually didn’t take the picture till I got home. I wanted to go back and take a cool shot of the mug tower, but every time I went in, it was busy, so I never did.

[faline]

It's always nice to find things on sale!

[Vintage Disney]

Welcome to intercot
Thanks for sharing your trip report. We were there in early march too.

[jenseib]

Thanks for the welcome!

[jenseib]

I returned to the pool to eat my sundae. This thing was melting super fast, but it was still good. Claire spotted it and came out for a quick bite and then ran right back to the pool. I finished it off fast…I mean I had to right? It was melting!
Well Claire popped back out of the pool about 2 seconds after I took that last bite. (and I scraped it clean LOL) and wanted some more.. OOPS! I told her I could go get her a ice-cream cone or a sundae if she wanted and she chose a cone.
So back to the food court I went.

I got her a rainbow sherbert cone. I brought it back and told her to come eat it. She wanted to eat it in the pool. UH…NO! So she came out and started on it. It too was melting fast. She took a couple of licks and told me to save it for her. I don’t think that would work. LOL! So I made her eat it up for the most part and then she ran back to the pool for a little more swimming.




After a little more swimming I told her it was time to get dried up and go to MK. She got right out and we went in the room to change. She decided to wear her Minnie dress with her ears.
We went out to tell DH we were ready. He was napping by the pool.



He decided he would meet up with us later. Skip has been having problems sleeping lately and has gone to some sleep clinics. They gave him meds, which seem to do nothing, and he has a mask he is to wear at night and he hates it, and ends up taking it off most night. So he is tired all the time anymore.

So off to the bus stop Claire and I went. As we are walking onto the bus the bus driver is saying hi to my princess, but she is looking the other way and saying something else. I try to get her attention, and look up and see that Skip is walking our way. He decided to come along.

On the bus ride over, I tell him about the toys being on sale (which he could care less about). I told him I was thinking of getting the castle for Easter for Claire. I spelled out the crucial stuff and he wondered why I was spelling. LOL! I said AGAIN, because it is for E-A-S-T-E-R. OOOOOH! LOL!

The lady next to me told me she just bought one the day before and was having it shipped home. She was the one who told me the sale was world wide. She said the castle was about 47ish on sale and another 12 (she thought) to ship it home. So I told DH I was probably going to get one and send it home.

We arrived at the MK around 6ish, I think.

We walked in and immediately to our right we saw Pluto. The line was very short, we stopped off to say hi and Claire got her 1st autograph of the trip. Pluto danced with her and really took time with her. (no photopass guy there though)

[faline]

Nice pics with Pluto!